Evening? It's afternoon. Always afternoon. Shudder. - Writers Forum

Pawn · 02-13-2004, 03:14 PM

Hello.

I'm saying hello in two respects here. That's a slightly misleading statement. I'm not using two words, or any of the like. What I'm doing, is saying hello, though the manner in which I am doing this take two substantially different facets. This helloness, that which is in question, is undeniably a duality of need, want, and sexual gratification. Hmm.. that would be a triality; you'd think, but no, sexual gratification is just a stupid one I put in in a useless attempt to sound more interesting..

In any case, let's move on. Having firmly delt with the issue of how i'm going to say hello, I don't think it's presumptious of me to now move onto the business of actually saying it. Hello.

And the second part? Well, I'm not sure whether this will interest you, but it may do so i'm going to go ahead and tell you anyway. I've fairly recently come to the conclusion that I need to bring my life into focus, as it were. Firstly, I adjusted my glasses, and while this helped markedly, it did not address the entirety of my problem. I shan't spend any more time on me, but move on to the upshot of my refocus. In the next few months, I will launch a magazine in my home city, written, designed and engineered by young people from colleges and universitys in the city. It will be at first given freely, in clubs, bars, cafes, record shops and the like, and will (according to my business plan) later make the transition to the retail market, once it has the credibility, distribution and contribution base it needs. I have, i'm sure, begun boring you. However, there's a predictable upshot to this linked with my presence here at this forum. One of the ideas which inspired me to launch the magazine was that there are creative people all over the world, most especially those involved in education, which, so opressed are they by the climate they work in, have no oppurtunity to express their creativity. This doesn't, I've realized, need just apply to my city, country or age group -- it is clearly something that is present in the world as a whole. There is a massive quantity of ideas and creative talent which goes unrecognised for thousands of reasons. And what's more, I imagine some of it resides in this very forum.

I'm asking you, the reader, for two things then. The first, is to say 'Hi'.. and the second? To think seriously about having a go at putting down a few paragraphs, nothing long, about something you really care about. Another of my ideas involves the thought that all journalism is review, and that the basis of journalism (non-bias reporting) is diametrically opposed to the result of journalism (opinionated review). Read that previous sentence through again. Right. The answer? Fuck journalism, let's have some opinions. Let's express the things which are really potent in our lives, whatever they happen to be. Screw backing things up, let's have unadulterated, vocal passion about things. That, ladies and gents, is a more interesting read than some twat trying to write a review.

Hope I haven't bored you. If i have, you can stick with saying 'Hi.'

northerain · 02-13-2004, 03:54 PM

hello, and welcome to the forums(no duality here)!You piqued my interest.How about some more info on the mag, and what exactly you're looking for?

Anvilsmith · 02-14-2004, 03:04 AM

Quote:

Screw backing things up, let's have unadulterated, vocal passion about things.

Of course.
In the darkest times that ever shamed our modern age, our nation has progressed through the fires of war and emerged unharmed; in peacetime, we have been the ones to pave the path of culture and technology, leaving the world in our debt; the proud and noble people that instill our sense of duty, born within the same great womb of our fair land, have always shown me what it means to be a patriot. There cannot be a single doubt towards our greatness.

For what remains of those who challenged us? We have proven them wrong and joined their little territories to our empire. In the kindness typical of our people, we've allowed them to prosper at the empire's fringe, turning their backward rural lands into the shining mirrors of our own civilization, and thus carried the message of our great culture through the continent. We've given them our laws, our institutions and our dedicated government, so that they might somehow be educated in the ways of civic duty. I tried teaching them myself, in early days... Back when idealism blinded me, I tried to heal them of their evils through kind actions and words, all of which failed.

Now, I see the time for kindness has to end. We've given them prosperity, a place in the imperial fold... And they tore down our gifts. They thought they could endlessly plunder from our coffers and waste all they took, for every bit of aid we gave them went spoiled in their greedy hands. They thought they could defy us, drawing pistols at the gunsmiths that we brought into their lands, seizing the fields that we so diligently planted, and said that all the guns we built were theirs, and that we had no claim on our own plantations. Their leaders said things that would curl the fists of every patriot, words that smell of greed and lies so typical of the [enemy], arguments that every rational man knows to be false. We have seen their greed, their lies, their arguments and their destruction... Now we must challenge them.

Their barbarism is matched only by their cunning; we can either keep on giving and smile when they snatch the gifts from our hands, or we can face them with the dignity that makes our land an empire. What can we do when they have shown themselves dishonorable, when their diplomacy consists of lies and greed lies at the center of their faith? I see the answer in your eyes, my friends...* There is no other choice than war.

*if this is a piece of written, as opposed to vocal, passion, use "I feel the answer in your hearts". Actually, that's a bit better for my tastes, as it's not a total clichee.

We are in all ways ready for the conflict... We have always been. Whenever our enemies cast off their fiendish masks and showed their villanous nature, our ancestors spared no moment to rid the empire of their evil. We should learn from them, for they are the pioneers who gave us our proud legacy, and heed the call to arms when it resounds within our hearts. Each time I look upon the soldiers of our empire, I see an oath of victory shining in their eyes, a fierce determination to protect and to uplift our great civilization. These soldiers are the embodiment our our empire, and their numbers grow each day, strengthening our people. They represent the noblest ideal any great thinker could conceive, for they will selflessly defend the monument that is our nation. Respect them, honor them, and you will honor every great achievement of the empire, for without these soldiers to protect them, none could have been raised.*

*I realize this isn't too "passionate", as it has a rather twisted sentence structure. Also, I've used some uncommon words, which is not a good idea when you're writing a speech to inject passion into the unwashed masses.

The virulent schemes of our enemies could never match our bravery. I fought on the [great battlefield] and saw this: when I charged with the cuirassiers against the final wave of [ethnic group], it felt as if our hearts, the [wind that only blows through the speaker's nation], our horses and the swords we held towards the sun were all joined into a single purpose, and I knew then that no marauding army could deny the force of the united people. So long as we remain together in both will and strength, we are invincible.

And so on... Let me ask you something about your magazine. If I were to praise something politically incorrect, like racism and child rape, would you allow it in? Even if it was passionate? I'll talk about the principles of your magazine some more after your reply...

Pawn · 02-23-2004, 09:17 AM

Blast. I got halfway through replying to this thread yesterday, when the computer had an accident. I'll try again, and make it as brief as I can.

Thanks for the replies, sorry for the weeks absence - I had a relaxing week with some friends of mine. The aforementioned magazine is misnamed 'Pawn'. I suppose this is an attempt at a poor pun, but it is sufficed to say that it is neither overtly related to naked women, or chess. The magazine will allow it's content to be governed by basic premises, such as I have layed down, in my philosophical manner, to govern the magazines content. I will endevour to give a little information on them, and hence on the magazines intended content, here:

1. Magazines must be entertaining. If one does not take this as one's primary premise, then what the hell is the point. Let the readers enjoy it!

2. Pawn's content will, as noted previously, pure opinion. Whilst Pawn will in time have it's own 'voice' as a magazine, this is built into the tone of writing, not the resultant. To reitterate my first post, Pawn wants passion, not journalism.

3. The magazines content is to be based primarily on the subjects of Film, Art and Music. That is to say, these are rough guides. They should by no means be taken as comprehensively inclusive. I put good writing far above topical writing in my esteem.

Ah but I have a meeting to attend, and my watch informs me I have 3 minutes to leave. I'll come and spend some time here later or tomorrow. I look forward to it. Oh, and happy birthday to me. Turah!

Pawn · 02-24-2004, 02:44 PM

Hi.

In answer to the question on the limits of opinion; one must allow the non-PC. Political correctness has got massively out of hand in modern society. However, this is not to say anyone who expects to get published can start writing about the joys of paedophilia - without treading into muddy waters, I'll settle for saying that it should be left to the individual discretion of the writer and subsequently the editor.

Anvilsmith · 03-02-2004, 09:10 AM

I'm sorry I didn't manage to write until now... Hopefully, you're still reading these forums. Your idea of a magazine "written from the heart" is certainly enjoyable... The magazine itself, however, wouldn't sell too many copies. You see, the reason "objective" magazines are so successful is that they describe provocative situations in such a way as to incite the reader without offending him. A "biased" magazine would gain a lot of reader loyality, but it would also attract a far smaller audience. A "biased" magazine that "switched sides" every issue, well... Not only would it seem that it lacked identity and coherence, it would also displease some readers, and this is a problem for a magazine that relies on pathos for its effect... After all, the only ones who will be fully able to accept its great diversity will likely be too open-minded to seriously feel anything for most of its subjects. You'd also drive away those who are so stuck in conformity that they would find a magazine like yours shocking... A lot of people are used to standard formats - those who try writing in an oral style, hoping to pass off as original, simply delude themselves. All they do is switch one standard format for another...

Mind you, I'm not saying you don't have a good chance of getting good readership. I think this could be a success, if you manage to order it in such a way as to oppose its negative effects. You've heard about how you must use momentum and such in your articles... Well, you might want to do that on the scale of your whole magazine, if you believe you'll be getting readers who prefer to read it like a book. Otherwise, you might want to group articles by topic, in such a way as to immediately show the reader which one contains an opinion similar to his own. Consider adding your own subtitles to the articles, or creating a synopsis of them all in the index, right on top of their respective sections.

This is how you should treat potentially touchy situations. Rather than allowing a single, one-sided article into the contents, group it with several that sustain opposite sides (and, contrary to popular belief, there are more than two sides to every issue). In some cases, like the war on Iraq, this would have been (and still is) easy. When dealing with issues that have not been already mediatized, you may have to "pioneer" the topic with a lenient one-sided article before getting opposing sides to talk about it. I realize this is against your philosophy, however. Either way, I am unsure of the psychological consequences of grouping articles together - for all I know, it might deter people from reading. Nevertheless, it would be better to provide everyone with something they enjoy than to satisfy a different segment every issue, as the latter option would leave readers uncertain of whether they should buy the next issue or not. This principle has worked in gambling, but I can't see it working in a newspaper as well. I suppose that's another problem you'll have to deal with: not being specialized, you won't be able to predict what readers will submit (unless you do some simple manipulation, which you don't want), so keeping your magazine interesting will require that you either keep a core of really exciting texts, delay certain articles until you get/write antagonistic ones to complement them (not a good idea, as you can surely see) or stimulate interest by, say, presenting a "topic of the month" feature. The latter would actually make the whole thing somewhat predictable.

Have you been really working on this magazine? I'd love to submit something...

Sam · 03-03-2004, 07:54 AM

Perhaps at the end of every issue there could be a sort of writing prompt on the back page. This could be a question, a short phrase or even a single word. The latter would obviously generate the most diverse selection of articles, but they would also be linked in the most tenuous of fashions. Take the word ‘chicken,’ for example. People could discuss the maltreatment of battery fowl, the delights of cooking chicken, the true meaning of courage, or even comment on the endless chicken-egg debate*.

Of course I’m not suggesting that the topic have totalitarian control—perhaps have a quarter of your page-count credited to that month’s subject. I believe including such prompts would merely make the magazine’s contents a little more uniform and, possibly, a bit more approachable. Besides, if you don’t have a basic theme what are you going to put on the cover?

Anyway, there’s my two pence.

*Evolution does, of course, make this a bit of a redundant topic as the answer is clear if you’re a follower of this theory.

Pawn · 03-03-2004, 01:30 PM

Thankyou kindly for the detail of your reply. The various dissadvantages to choosing opinion over objectivity which you expressed so concisely were very much a matter of consideration to me when I was writing the magazines manifesto and editorial policy. They are, it would seem, rather damning to any attempt at writing feeling over fact, or subjectivity over objectivity.

The answer is rather less complex, however, in as much as the problem can be much reduced by a simple limitation on the article content. Writers for Pawn are encouraged to write on a concept that is firmly linked to either Music, Art or Film. That is to say, no politics. The areas where non-objectivity would be crippling to an article, in the ways that you described, are avoided by specifiying relatively light-hearted topics, and in two further ways. The first of these is what I like to call Principle Number One. That is, the primary aim of a Pawn article must always be to entertain. Simple, but rather important. The second, and more important element of Pawns avoidance of these problems comes from a stress on positivity. Of the content an average issue of Pawn will consist of, around 80% will be positive opinions. This is an attempt to limit the amount of negativity which might so destroy a potential readership group. If Pawn published an article saying it hated a very well known band, which it well might, then there would be massive consideration by myself and those I consider my advisors as to whether this would be tolerable given our readership.

One of the particular problems you highlighted was that of an uncontrollable divergence from a single 'voice'. It is well known that an editor should attempt to give a magazine a certain voice, an outlook etc. To try and retain such a voice, Pawn's editorial policy comes close to actually specifying a musical taste for Pawn, as if it were a person itself. This is an extremely wide taste, but is one nonetheless. It appreciates rock in the same way as it appreciates Bach, or acid techno (on the same level, rather). Through attempting to give Pawn some coherency through the selection of articles it publishes, I hope to avoid making Pawn a mere tapestry of other peoples opinions.

You'll be pleased to know work on the draft of Issue 1 started on Monday of this current week. This is very much a draft, in that it is only 2/3 of the size of the eventual issue, and designed really as a kind of publicity piece which is to give potential advertisers and distributors a real idea of what the magazine is going to look like. This said, all the content in it is similar to that which will graze the final copy.

Pawns doors then, are still very much open to the world. Contributions are always appreciated. If writing is accepted, it will go through an editorial process as long as needs be, involving collaboration between myself and the author to bring it the pinnacle of its potential perfection. If an article is declined, then it will come back with a full explanation of why it doesn't fit the task. I'd naturally encourage anyone with so much as a taste in anything to have a go at writing something, as the task is really a straightforward and interesting one.

A super-brief recap of what kind of writing Pawn wants:

200-600 words...
Taking as its subject a new or old piece of Music, Art or Film.

And remember, write opinion, entertainingly.

Pawn · 03-03-2004, 06:16 PM

Anvilsmith - There's a similar thread to this in the Contests and Market Listings forum, if you're interested. Sam and northerain are already there

http://www.writingforums.com/viewtopic.php?p=23507